Chinese Students Association, CSA, is a student-run organization on campus that puts on regular events for the student body to share and promote awareness for Chinese and Chinese-American cultural and societal issues while supporting a social environment for students of all backgrounds at Washington University in St. Louis. CSA is mainly composed of four components open to everyone at WashU:
- General Body Events – We host regular events that allow general body members to interact with each other and find a sense of community within CSA on campus. Events include movie nights, study breaks, and dinner outings. We also have CSA Families in which students of all grades can join a “family” and create strong bonds with each other.
- Speaker Events – We have had the honor of bringing in various speakers on campus to talk about topics that interest students and are relevant to Asian American identity and thought. In the past, we have hosted Eddie Huang, Michelle Kwan, Maya Lin, Constance Wu, and Lisa Ling.
- Community Service – We make it our priority to foster not only a community within WashU but also a community within the St. Louis area. We annually spend time with Chinese elders at a senior living community over the holiday season and volunteer with the Health Protection & Education Services.
- Large Scale Events – As our biggest events by scale, over 200 people participate in events ranging from our annual CSA Formal in the fall semester and various other events such as a newly programmed In-Between collaboration headed by CSA and Ashoka which explores mental health within the Asian community.